Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Night Vision vs Thermal vision

Does anyone know if someone makes a dual night vision and thermal scope all in one? I thought I saw one at a gun show a few years ago. You could flip a switch to go from one to the other depending on circumstances.

What are the differences?

Is one better than the other?

Which one is the best bang for the buck?

Would be using it for both night hunting (legal for varmit, wild hogs) and SHTF.

Thanks.

I've never seen a combo unit and I've never used a night vision, but I did buy a thermal a few months ago. It's incredible! Nothing living can hide in the dark.

The one thing I have noticed is a thermal is akin to watching a television in the dark. It will kill your night vision, even on the dimmest settings. (like looking at a bright light and then looking out into the dark) An advantage to true night vision is it might not have that same effect.

Interested to hear what others say or if there is a combo unit.

Yep. I think with regular night vision, one can still be camoflaged and you not see them in their surroundings. With thermal, you would see them hiding. Same with hogs or wild animals. I really want a combo if there is such a thing to be able to see both at night. I've also heard that the military issues reflective ponchos, gloves and face gear to reflect the heat signature if the enemy is using thermal.

I talked to a guy who was retired from the Air Force about this. He said they had nods that combined them. IIRC he said they were about 60k each. I googled it and can only find articles saying they are coming out, so I'm not too helpful with that part of the question.

I have been on two night hog hunts in Texas. Night vision goggles are good for walking around, but the nv scopes, and the guides had high end stuff, were blown away by the thermals. (xp50). I was really impressed with how well I could see the hogs with the thermal. It is literally amazing.

With my very limited experience, I think the best way to do it would be night vision goggles on a flip up mount on a helmet or hard hat, then a gun mounted thermal scope. Even better would be a hand held thermal to scan with and a thermal scope on the rifle.

If i lived in Texas, my first purchase would be a thermal scope in a quick release mount, then later NV goggles. I think on my budget I'd look for a Pulsar XQ30 (iirc) which should be $3k, then later a set of NV googles, gen 3, manual gain, autogated, with the lifetime warranty. If I could afford it, the white phosphor ones. Those can be found used for about $3K also.

There are some good Youtube videos that compare the two side by side. In reality, I don't think there is much of a comparison. Thermal is much better for the scope.